Annie’s 1^st Win Includes Canadian Dimension

Colorado’s Annie Whiteley, who is wife to standout TAD racer Jim Whiteley, earned her first win ever in TAFC last weekend scoring during the NHRA LODRS Division race held at Las Vegas.  The rookie lady racer utilized the talents of a Canadian legend while doing it….. 

The win which came in just her 4^th fourth start in the category does include a major “North of the 49th” dimension.  Not only is her car the former Ford Mustang owned by Winnipeg’s Brian Friesen, it is the same one that was formally driven by but is now tuned by reputed Canadian racer Roger Bateman (fromCalgary).   After driving the car all of last season, Bateman has been a mentor while training Annie as a driver and that has led to a surrendering of the cockpit to her this season.

Annie Whiteley celebrates her first ever TAFC win at Las Vegas

Whiteley’s Y-Not Racing Mustang was the picture of consistency all weekend; she qualified No. 3 with a 5.68 and ran back-to-back 5.68s in the early rounds.  Then during the breakthrough final win over Tony Bartone, she scored with a 5.678 secs 254.76 mph versus Bartone’s 5.788 secs 257.24 mph.

“There was a spot on the track that we couldn’t get through when we were testing before the race, and the same thing happened in the first qualifying session,” Whiteley said. “We only had one more shot to get in, so Roger did something to settle the car down, and it made it right down through there. We were thrilled just to make the field – there were 16 cars trying to qualify – and we were ecstatic to get by the first round. That was my first round-win, and when we went up for the semis, Roger told me ‘OK, now you’re playing with the big boys.’”

Annie’s very gratifying breakthrough victory also included round wins over TAFC class stalwarts – Brian Hough and Jay Payne.

Posted by:  Bruce Biegler 

Photo by:  Bob Johnson